AfD ends collaboration with Weidel’s speaker

According to media reports, the AfD and party leader Weidel’s advisor, Hartwig, have terminated his employment contract “by mutual agreement.” The background is a meeting with radical right-wing extremists in which Hartwig took part.

The AfD is parting ways with an employee of party leader Alice Weidel after he took part in a recently announced meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam. Roland Hartwig’s employment contract as Weidel’s consultant will be “terminated by mutual agreement,” said a party spokesman, according to information from ARD capital studios after a meeting of the Federal Executive Board.

This applies from now on, it was said. There was no further explanation.

The 69-year-old former member of the Bundestag took part in the meeting in a Potsdam villa in November, as a party spokesman confirmed after corresponding research by the media company Correctiv became known. At the meeting, the former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, said he spoke about “remigration”. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress.

Outrage and protests against the right

According to these earlier AfD statements, Hartwig did not know before the meeting that Sellner would be present, even though he was announced in the invitation. The Identitarian Movement is on the AfD’s incompatibility list, which excludes membership.

Reports of the meeting sparked widespread outrage. On Sunday, tens of thousands took to the streets against the right in various cities, and there were also demonstrations on Monday.

Resignation from the German Language Association

As a result of research into the networking meeting, board member Silke Schröder resigned from the German Language Association (VDS). “With her resignation, Ms. Schröder has forestalled expulsion from the club at the board meeting next Friday,” explained club chairman Walter Krämer. She also canceled her membership. After the Potsdam meeting became known, the association distanced itself “from the private activities of its board member” in a statement on Wednesday.